Saturday, February 27, 2010

As I mentioned before, this is ConDor Convention weekend! I'm excited because, today, I get to sit in on a few panels because I only have an autographing session at 2pm. Yesterday, I moderated a panel about genre TV, and we had a great discussion. (Imagine a room full of people who also love SUPERNATURAL and CHUCK and there you go.) Tomorrow, I'll be on a panel about whether genre books like TWILIGHT and Harry Potter persuade mainstream audiences to go genre, too. That's at 10am.

I can't believe I forgot about this, but the Knight Agency posted a newsletter article I wrote about writing love scenes to the blog. (Due to space constraints, it had to be edited for the newsletter, so it's published, uncut, on their web site.) To read it, click here on http://knightagency.blogspot.com/ .

Saturday, February 20, 2010

To get published, some writers decide to go the contest route. They enter good contests that provide valuable feedback and, if their work advances, agents and editors see their stuff. This route helped my critique partner, Judy Duarte, get her fine books published, and it's a very valid avenue.

If you want to give it a try, I'll recommend a great contest for you--Spring Into Romance. Here are some details:

~Permission to forward granted~

RWA San Diego chapter is proud to announce our Spring Into Romance Contest2010.

Open to any writer, unpublished in book-length fiction within the last threeyears of deadline and uncontracted in book-length fiction at the time ofsubmission. You must retain all rights to the entry and not have granted anyof them to a publisher or any other party prior to the contest deadline.

Submit the first 25 pages of your manuscript (seewebsitehttp://www.rwasd.com/contest/index.htmlfor full submissionrequirements and rules).

No synopsis required!

Fee: $25; ($20 for RWASD members; $35 for foreign entries)

Eligibility: Not published in book-length fiction within three yearsof deadline

Specialized score sheet sections for each category.

First Round Judges: Trained or published. Every attempt will be madeto assign each entry a published judge.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Last year, at RWA National, I met the effervescent, talented Kasey MacKenzie. We hung out for a web promo panel, endured a fire alarm evacuation, then had a few snacks in the bar. I'm telling you her name because I think you'll know it well once her first book comes out in July. It's an urban fantasy about Furies, and I haven't read one of those so I'm *really* looking forward to it!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

I spent a lovely weekend with some college friends. Going from winery to winery in a limo, having a mini spa day, visiting a couple of old haunts up in San Luis Obispo, where I went to college.

That means it was ages until I finally got to watch SUPERNATURAL. Is there ever going to be a season when Dean doesn't make me want to weep for him? And Castiel was as darling as ever, even while chomping on raw meat. But March 25? Seriously? We won't get anything until then???

Meanwhile, I'm totally in to the Olympics. Winter games are so much more fun, I think. First and foremost, I'm tuning in to the short track speed skating. Talk about a nail biter the other night!

A huge shout out and thank you to INCiDeNT, who posted an excerpt of NIGHT RISING, Vampire Babylon, Book One on her site. Here's the link if you want to pay a visit and play the excerpt game:

Friday, February 05, 2010

* Oh, Dean. I had such higher hopes for your dreams. Don’t know what I expected to be going around in that noggin of yours though: plans for world peace? The formula for conquering cancer? Actually, I truly was expecting perhaps a few modestly brilliant, barely formed schemes for fighting the apocalypse. With a dab of roadhouse tomcatting mixed in, I suppose.

* Castiel! It’s been forever.

* Gosh, Nick didn’t stay on the show long. I guess the actor was on the call sheet for Lost and he had to go.

* Fun premise—Anna is the Terminator (She can even do fake voices.) and Sam is John Connor.

* The Prairie Court Hotel—aw, the name makes me totally want to stay there. It’s bound to have towels that are kind of stiff from the kind of cheap detergent they use as well as an old bed that goes “eeeee” when you lay down on it. It would be totally quaint though, with quail wallpaper and a fun little saloon bar in the lobby.

* How many years bad luck do you get for sticking a tire iron through an angel’s heart?

* LOL for “Not another word or I will turn this car around!”

* Interesting to see John Winchester, the I-can-do-anything manly man we’re used to, floundering here, feeling useless amid the other hunters.

* I can’t wait to find out what heaven’s agenda is in all this, because right now, it’s hard to root for the angels, the “good side.” I despise Anna, but in a way that means she became a strong villain.

* Michael? In John? Hmm. And he touched Mary. She’s preggers with Dean, right? I wonder if Michael marked fetus Dean with that touch.

* Neat conversation between the “good sons,” Michael and Dean.

* Did anyone expect Castile to give a shout-out to The Empire Strikes Back by saying “I feel terrible” when he stumbled into the hotel room? Just me?

* The crib of future doom!

That was a touching eppie. : )

My DVR cut off before previews for next week, but I think we’ll be seeing a cupid eppie, right?

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

The contest at Bitten by Books is up now! You have until 11:59pm central time tomorrow to do one of many things on their entry list to get as many entries in as possible. Your efforts could sure be worth it, because one part of the grand prize package is a $100 gift card from Barnes & Noble (along with several signed vamp books from me!).

Monday, February 01, 2010

Want the chance to win a $100 gift card from Barnes & Noble, plus a bundle of my signed books?

The fabulous Bitten by Books web site (http://bittenbybooks.com/) is hosting a release party for the reissue of BREAK OF DAWN, Vampire Babylon, Book Three tomorrow (2/2/10). It starts at 12:00 pm Central time and runs all day and into the night. It ends at 11:59 pm Central on 2/3/10. Not only will there be a contest (see prizes below), but I’ll also be on the site to chat about the series—especially the upcoming DEEP IN THE WOODS!

Here’s what you could win if you participate:1st prize - $100.00 Barnes and Noble gift card plus all of the following signed books:Night Rising, Vampire Babylon, Book 1Midnight Reign, Vampire Babylon, Book 2A Drop of Red, Vampire Babylon, Book 4The Path of Razors, Vampire Babylon, Book 5First Blood, a vampire anthology that includes a Vampire Babylon novellaTwice Bitten, a vampire anthology that includes The Huntress, which was written as Crystal Green

2nd prize - All the following signed books:Night Rising, Vampire Babylon, Book 1Midnight Reign, Vampire Babylon, Book 2A Drop of Red, Vampire Babylon, Book 4The Path of Razors, Vampire Babylon, Book 5First Blood, a vampire anthology that includes a Vampire Babylon novellaTwice Bitten, a vampire anthology that includes The Huntress, which was written as Crystal Green

There are several things you can do to increase your chances of winning one of the two prize packages, and here’s the first:

RSVP today for tomorrow’s party at http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=19216By doing this, you’ll get 25 entries to the contest when you show up on the day of the event. (Note: If you don’t show up and mention your RSVP AND ask a question, you won’t be entered into the contest.) Also note that this is not the main event link. Those of you who RSVP today will be getting extra entries. Tomorrow, you’ll want to go to the main link at http://bittenbybooks.com/

I hope to see you there. You might also want to check out the site ahead of time to see what else you can do to increase the chances of winning!